Turkey and the World Around It: From Democracy and Human Rights Perspective

“The fundamental barrier to democracy in Turkey today is the clique which dominates the political system, of which the resistance of the bureaucratic structure is a product. Slogans such as “This society is not ready for democracy”, “separatist Kurds could divide the country”,“the Sharia is on its way” are used to make some groups in Turkey and the outside world accept a second–class democracy in Turkey.

Within this framework, it is of the utmost importance to heed the words of those fair and reasonable intellectuals who analyze and articulate from a liberal democratic perspective what is happening in Turkey. Orhan Kemal Cengiz is one of those intellectuals. He is a defender of human rights from a robust legal perspective, a democrat, and a lawyer who has successfully defended religious minorities in Turkey.

I believe that the value of Orhan Kemal’s works lies not just in the fact that they stem from a solid legal foundation and a democratic perspective, but also that they spring from his conscience.”